Munk Debates

The Munk Debates are a semi-annual series of debates on major policy issues held in Toronto, Canada. They are run by the Aurea Foundation, a charitable foundation set up by Peter Munk, founder of Barrick Gold, and his wife Melanie Munk. The debate series was founded in 2008 by Munk and Rudyard Griffiths, who moderates most of the debates.

The Munk debates are held in Toronto, at steadily larger venues as they have proven popular. Tickets are sold to the general public, and sell out shortly after being made available.

At each debate a poll is taken of the audience both before and after the debate. The winner of the debate is determined by how many people are persuaded to move from one opinion side to the other.

The debates have been broadcast on CBC Radio's Ideas as well as CPAC. The more recent ones have also appeared on international broadcasters including BBC and C-SPAN.

Debates

Date	Topic	Pro	Con	Winner	Swing	Venue
May 26, 2008	The world is a safer place with a Republican in the White House	Charles Krauthammer and Niall Ferguson	Samantha Power and Richard Holbrooke	Pro	17%	Royal Ontario Museum
Dec 1, 2008	If countries like Sudan, Somalia and Burma will not end their man-made humanitarian crises, the international community should	Gareth Evans and Mia Farrow	John Bolton and Rick Hillier	Con	9%	Royal Ontario Museum
June 1, 2009	Be it resolved foreign aid does more harm than good	Hernando de Soto Polar and Dambisa Moyo	Stephen Lewis and Paul Collier	Pro	2%	Royal Ontario Museum
Dec 1, 2009	Climate change is mankind's defining crisis, and demands a commensurate response	George Monbiot and Elizabeth May	Bjørn Lomborg and Nigel Lawson	Con	8%	The Royal Conservatory of Music
June 7, 2010	I would rather get sick in the United States than Canada	Bill Frist and David Gratzer	Howard Dean and Robert Bell	Con	7%	The Royal Conservatory of Music
Nov 26, 2010	Religion is a force for good in the world.	Tony Blair	Christopher Hitchens	Con	13%	Roy Thomson Hall
June 17, 2011	The 21st century will belong to China.	Niall Ferguson and David Daokui Li	Henry Kissinger and Fareed Zakaria	Con	22%	Roy Thomson Hall
Nov 14, 2011	North America faces a Japan-style era of high unemployment and slow growth.	Paul Krugman and David Rosenberg	Lawrence Summers and Ian Bremmer	Con	19%	Roy Thomson Hall
May 25, 2012	The European experiment has failed.	Niall Ferguson and Josef Joffe	Daniel Cohn-Bendit and Peter Mandelson	Con	17%	Roy Thomson Hall
November 26, 2012	The world cannot tolerate an Iran with nuclear weapons capability...	Amos Yadlin and Charles Krauthammer	Fareed Zakaria and Vali Nasr	Con	18%	Roy Thomson Hall
May 30, 2013	Tax the rich (more)	George Papandreou and Paul Krugman	Newt Gingrich and Arthur Laffer	Pro	12%	Roy Thomson Hall
November 15, 2013	Be it resolved men are obsolete...	Hanna Rosin and Maureen Dowd	Caitlin Moran and Camille Paglia	Pro	28%	Roy Thomson Hall
May 2, 2014	Be it resolved state surveillance is a legitimate defence of our freedoms....	Michael Hayden and Alan Dershowitz	Glenn Greenwald and Alexis Ohanian	Con	13%	Roy Thomson Hall
November 5, 2014	Be it resolved Obama’s foreign policy is emboldening our enemies and making the world a more dangerous place…	Bret Stephens and Robert Kagan	Anne-Marie Slaughter and Fareed Zakaria	Con	11%	Roy Thomson Hall
April 10, 2015	Be it resolved the West should engage not isolate Russia…	Stephen F. Cohen and Vladimir Posner	Anne Applebaum and Garry Kasparov	Con	10%	Roy Thomson Hall
November 6, 2015	Be it resolved humankind’s best days lie ahead...	Steven Pinker and Matt Ridley	Alain de Botton and Malcolm Gladwell	Pro	2%	Roy Thomson Hall
April 1, 2016	Be it resolved, give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free...	Louise Arbour and Simon Schama	Nigel Farage and Mark Steyn	Con	22%	Roy Thomson Hall

External links

• Official website